This invention generally relates to a washing apparatus and particularly to a washing apparatus suitable for cleaning automotive parts and other similar articles.
Parts removed from automotive vehicles for repair or replacement characteristically have heavy layers of oil and/or grease, tenacious deposits of baked-on carbonaceous material, dirt, sand, and the like. To facilitate working on these automotive parts, they are usually cleaned in a highly caustic, aqueous detergent solution.
There are many different types of automotive parts washing apparatus that have been sold in the marketplace and described in the prior art literature. The following list of patents illustrate some of the prior art washing apparatus. The list of patents is intended to be exemplary, not exhaustive on the subject.
______________________________________ PATENT NO. PATENTEE ______________________________________ U.S. PAT. NO. 2,471,506 Wiswall U.S. PAT. NO. 2,633,399 Haas U.S. PAT. NO. 3,071,178 Howeth U.S. PAT. NO. 3,345,994 Felton U.S. PAT. NO. 3,422,826 Ballard U.S. PAT. NO. 3,439,689 Zadron et al. U.S. PAT. NO. 3,452,763 Ballard U.S. PAT. NO. 3,624,750 Peterson U.S. PAT. NO. 3,656,491 Ballard U.S. PAT. NO. 3,921,653 Ducharme U.S. PAT. NO. 3,930,879 Erickson et al. U.S. PAT. NO. 4,133,340 Ballard U.S. PAT. NO. 4,143,669 Minkin U.S. PAT. NO. 4,170,240 Gentry U.S. PAT. NO. 4,217,920 Ballard U.S. PAT. NO. 4,408,625 Kuhl U.S. PAT. NO. 4,433,698 Blaul CAN 995,101 Lee CAN 1,016,043 Buchagger et al. CAN 1,086,188 Alexander ______________________________________
The typical prior art automotive parts washing apparatus generally comprises an enclosed cabinet having a door in the front of the cabinet to provide access to a washing chamber disposed within the cabinet. A support table, usually rotatable, is provided in the bottom of the washing chamber to support the articles to be cleaned. Frequently, a wheeled basket is used to hold the parts to be cleaned, and rails or other guide means are fixed to the upper surface of the support table and used to facilitate moving the parts in and out of the washer in the wheeled basket. One or more spray bars or manifolds are provided within the washing chamber to spray cleaning fluid at the articles disposed therein.
In most automotive repair shops, machine shops and the like, centrally located floor space is for the most part taken up by equipment designed to perform the primary functions of such places. Parts washing devices are very difficult to place in such shops because they need to be connected to electrical, plumbing, and frequently gas facilities. As a result, parts washers are usually placed in less than desirous locations from the standpoint of transporting dirty parts from a work station to the washer and then returning the cleaned parts back to the work station or to a storage area.
With most of the prior art parts washing systems, the parts to be cleaned were either hand carried to the washer or placed in a carrier and transported to the washer in the carrier. In both cases, however, the parts would have to be hand loaded into the washer for cleaning which is labor intensive and time consuming.
What has been needed and heretofore unavailable is an effective parts conveying system integral with the washer which minimizes the time and effort required to clean automotive parts and the like. The present invention satisfies this need.